National Museum Delights Us With An Exhibition!

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oi-Denise Baptiste

By Denise Baptiste

Friday, May 6, 2011, 14:10

An exhibition of photos and screening of documentaries on Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tibetan nomads by award-winning director Anu Malhotra was opened at the National Museum here last evening.

A vast number of rare artifacts belonging to the North-East region and from the repository of the Museum are also put on display at the exhibition, the second in the series titled 'Paintings: Past and Present" which was launched to focus on the art heritage of each State and connect it with the present traditions. While inaugurating the exhibition, Museum Administrator and the Vice-Chancellor of the National Museum Institute Dr C V Ananda Bose said it was part of the attempts by the National Museum to regain its past glory and connect to the people.

'The new series of exhibitions of Soul Survivors was launched to highlight the traditional and contemporary works of each State simultaneously and turn the National Museum into an institution for cultural connect. The Museum is no more the abode of the dead and it is the home of the living too. We are trying to reach out to the people in a big way and make a link between the past and the present through this series,"" Dr Bose said. The first in the series of 'Painting: Past and Present" was on Rajasthan. The classical Rajasthani miniature paintings and contemporary works on the vibrant State by celebrated artist Kiran Soni Gupta, on display from April 9 to 30, drew huge crowds. The current exhibition Soul Survivors" will continue till the month end.

'I have traveled widely in the region in the last decade and learnt much wisdom of the people there. It is an attempt to show how we can be close to the nature and the spirit of being human,"" Anu Malhotra said. 'It is an appreciation of alternative wisdom, customs and institutions that have remained valid over centuries, and of peoples that have intrigued and instructed hundreds of curious explorers over time. It seeks to relativise the value we attribute to some of our values and material possessions, and to encourage us to rethink our own priorities and urbane lifestyles,"" she said.

The Soul Survivors exhibition documents, in visual and written form, the customs, opinions, cuisines, costumes, rhythms of the Apatani of Arunachal Pradesh, the Konyak of Nagaland and the Tibetan nomads.

The collections of Soul Survivors artifacts from the National Museum include headgears, costumes, wooden and bamboo utensils, jeweleries and gadgets used by the tribal in the North East region in early centuries. The exhibition wants to heighten the awareness about these three cultures and their wisdom traditions and promote indigenous arts and crafts and offer “art with soul" for your homes.

Anu Malhotra has traveled extensively. Variously rendered through the still and moving camera, the paint brush, and the pen, these journeys show glimpses of other India"s that are seldom reached and little known. She has charted her own path for these “adventures", first as a television producer-director with over 600-hours of programming and pioneering shows like Namaste India and Indian Holiday, and then as a documentary filmmaker showcasing unique cultures, over the past 15 years.

With over 16 national and international awards, her films are seminal works - a tribute to India's infinite diversity, unveiling a country to itself and to the world.